After a brief and short opening ceremony, Qatar and Ecuador faced-off for the opening match of the 2022 World Cup. There was a lot of controversy at the beginning, but as the minutes passed, the South American side dominated completely to the host nation that felt the nerves after all.
Two goals scored by Enner Valencia helped picking up the win for Ecuador. While the team managed by Gustavo Alfaro almost made a perfect game, the host nation didn't have one close shot to Ecuador's goalkeeper.
Since the beginning of the day, the Al Bayt Stadium was expected to be full for this opening match. However, as the game progressed, something unthinkable in World Cup event like this one happened. Especially as Qatar built this tournament to be played for full-crowd stadiums.
How many people watched the opening match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar?
The Al Bayt Stadium located in Al Khor held the opening ceremony for the game, as well as the opening match for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It was more than 67,000 people that filled one of the eight new stadiums in Qatar, nearly 21 miles far from Doha.
The stadium announcers stated the official attendance for this opening matchup was 67,372 people. In which, surprisingly started to empty nearly in the middle of the second half, when the game was already was a 2-0 win for Ecuador, and Qatar weren't even close to shoot the opposing goal.
The Al Bayt Stadium will held eight more games. Among those games are five group-stage matches, as well as three knockout stage matchups. One game of the Round of 16, Quaterfinals, and one of the semifinals.
Using this World Cup Predictor, you can see every potential outcome of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
